Commencement 2019

By Wake Forest University

May 23^rd, 2019

Commencement 2019 on hearn plaza

Nearly 2,000 graduates and their friends and family members filled Hearn Plaza on Monday, May 20, for Wake Forest’s 2019 Commencement ceremony. Cloud cover and a light breeze in the early morning gave way to warm temperatures and bright sun for the nearly 11,000 attending the celebration.

"We're ready"

New graduates greet their friends and family as they line up in order for the processional.

honorary degrees

The University awarded honorary degrees to seven individuals during the commencement ceremony: Commencement speaker Frederick J. Ryan Jr.; baccalaureate speaker Gary A. Haugen; Julius LeVonne Chambers, former Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund and former Chancellor, N.C. Central University (posthumous); Jeffrey A. Davis, EVP and Chief Financial Officer, Qurate Retail Group; Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress; Sandy Ouellette, President, R and S Ouellette Inc.; Philip A. Pizzo, former Dean, Stanford Medical School.

Frederick J. Ryan Jr., publisher and chief executive officer of The Washington Post, delivered the commencement address. Ryan, an outspoken advocate for the free press, encouraged grads to use their knowledge to search for the truth in spite of efforts to obscure it.